How to Make Glow in the Dark Slime

We love a good slime recipe around here, and when we saw this idea on Pinterest for making glow in the dark slime, we had to try it! This slime is easy to make and really glows!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase through the links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you.

To make glowing slime, you will need:

• Liquid starch
• Clear glue
• Glow in the dark craft paint

Pour 1/4 cup of liquid starch into a disposable cup or bowl. Stir in 1-2 Tablespoons of glow in the dark paint. We stirred with a craft stick. Then stir in 1/4 cup of clear glue. (If you’re making multiple batches, a 5 oz. bottle of glue is close enough to make 3 batches of slime. Just skimp a little on each quarter cup. Worked for us!)

As you stir, the slime should look like this:

Once it’s stirred well (just a couple minutes), put it on a paper towel to dry. Pat the slime with more paper towels to absorb the excess moisture. There will also be liquid left in the cup.

Squish and squeeze your slime with your hands. It will be very stringy and messy at first, but keep squishing! After a few minutes it will look like this:

If your slime seems too sticky, you can knead in some more starch to “fix” it. This works quite well!

If the slime is too stringy or won’t hold together, knead in a little more glue.

And in the dark it will look like this:

Note: The Idea Room suggested putting neon food coloring in the slime, so we tried that on our first batch. We used a couple drops of green and yellow to make a bright green slime. It really did not glow very well. We tried another batch with no food coloring, and it glowed much brighter. I would not color the slime if glowing is your main goal!

The boys love playing with slime! (And I do too!) It’s stretchy and squishy and fun!

This is the kind of glowing material that absorbs light and then glows brighter. We found that the full spectrum UV lightbulb that we bought for our pet tortoise works REALLY well for “charging” the slime (although any light will work). I plugged it in at the kitchen island, and the younger boys have been charging their slime, then running to the laundry room to watch it glow. Then playing for a few minutes at the island, then charging it, then running to the laundry room. Then repeat x 20. Ha!

Note: Because of the paint, this slime does not keep as well as other slime recipes. Our standard slime recipe and magnetic slime have lasted for months in ziploc bags, but this slime was a sticky mess after only a couple of weeks. Try one of the other recipes if you want a long lasting slime.

If you like making slime, be sure to check out our magnetic slime recipe!

Follow us on Facebook for more play ideas!